Mike Monroe: Changing Clips’ culture makes CP3 clear MVP

With reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose missing nearly half the season with physical ailments, Miami’s LeBron James has become a heavy favorite to regain possession of the trophy he won in 2008 and 2009.

If he wins, as I suspect he will, James will be just the eighth player in league history to take home the league’s most prestigious award a third time. This would place him with such luminaries as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Moses Malone.

Not that it should influence voters, but he also would be the lone member of such select company without a championship ring.

Until recently, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant had authored a compelling case as an alternative for the No. 1 spot on the official MVP ballot that requires voters to rank five players. The league’s No. 2 scorer, Durant had his team with a comfortable lead atop the Western Conference from the first week of the season.

Team success counts for plenty in MVP consideration.

But something went awry in Oklahoma City of late — and it wasn’t injuries. The Thunder lost its winning magic and its lead in the West. With that, Durant may have lost any chance of edging James for the award.

Doesn’t that make James a slam-dunk choice for the top spot on every ballot?

Call me a contrarian, but neither James nor Durant will be on the No. 1 spot when I e-vote on Friday. This has everything to do with how I define value and places less weight on statistical analysis.

If you believe a player’s true value is defined by his ability to optimize the talents of each of his teammates, I contend no player is more worthy than Clippers point guard Chris Paul.

That’s not as gaudy as James’ Bird quotient (29.82), but still impressive enough to merit a first-place MVP vote.

It is what Paul has done to change the culture around the Clippers that truly tips the scales this season.

With an assist from commissioner David Stern, Paul landed not on the talent-laden Lakers via a post-lockout trade, but on a Clippers team that hadn’t been to the playoffs since 2006.

The day he arrived, players who didn’t know what it meant to play in the postseason believed they were title contenders.

How do you quantify that?

It’s not just that Blake Griffin leads the league in monster dunks because Paul is the league’s best lob passer. Paul’s ability to dictate an opponent’s defensive focus instantly augmented the offensive skills of each teammate.

Paul and Spurs point guard Tony Parker now are the NBA’s best at running the pick and roll. Paul is a better pure shooter, and this makes him slightly more dangerous than Parker, another player who makes my MVP ballot.

Paul is also one of the league’s best closers, better at this vital skill than either James or Durant. In the final five minutes of games in which teams are within five points of an opponent, he is the league’s top scorer with 137 points. He has three game-winning baskets and that ties him with Miami’s Dwyane Wade, not James, for the league lead.

Paul’s dramatic game-winner in Oklahoma City on April 11 kept the Thunder in the downward spiral that allowed the Spurs to overtake them for the Western lead.

James will get the No. 2 slot on my ballot, with Durant third, Parker fourth and Lakers guard Kobe Bryant fifth.